


basketful of hallowe'en love

by mlraven



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy-era, Autumn, Family, Fluff, Halloween, Holidays, M/M, Pre-Slash, ToT: Chocolate Box, ToT: Treat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-17 06:46:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12359850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mlraven/pseuds/mlraven
Summary: Joanna comes to visit Starfleet Academy over Halloween, Bones works himself into a lather, and Jim is unbelievably thrilled.





	basketful of hallowe'en love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CurareChai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CurareChai/gifts).



> Happy Trick or Treat season, CurareChai! Your request for Jim/Bones and "Bones actually cares for me" spawned this fic :)

In their second year at the Academy, Bones invites twelve-year-old Joanna to spend Halloween break with him.

He mentions it to Jim cautiously, as if he’s afraid Jim will say no. Jim, who lives for Bones’s infrequent hints about his life before Starfleet, agrees immediately.

Bones looks at him suspiciously, as if he doubts Jim’s motives in agreeing, but makes plans with Jocelyn for Joanna’s arrival and departure. She’ll be spending ten days with him; the entirety of their intersession break, and the longest stretch of time Bones’s had with Joanna since the divorce.

In the week before her arrival, in between final exams, Bones buzzes around their dorm room like a particularly intense worker bee. He cleans obsessively, from the pyramid of empty beer cans on Jim’s desk to the dust bunnies collecting in every corner. He sets up a cot for Joanna to sleep on, complete with bug-themed bedding, as Jocelyn says Jo’s going through an entomology phase. Bones’s heart swells with pride when he hears that—  _ “Maybe she’ll be a brilliant biologist like her dad,” Jim says, a quiet smile on his face _ — and makes sure to plan a trip to the United Earth Museum of Natural History, just a short shuttle ride in the African Confederation.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Finally, it’s the day of Jo’s arrival. Bones returns from tidying his lab bench (just in case she wants to see it) in time to wake Jim up for her arrival. To his surprise he finds Jim’s bed made and Jim hunkered over his desk, carefully whittling a delicate wooden grasshopper.

Startled, Bones stops in the doorway, watching Jim’s fingers’ practiced movements transform what was a chunk of light wood into an anatomically-correct insect.

“How—” Bones starts, throat thick with emotion. He clears his throat and tries again. “How’d you know those’re her favorites?” he asks.

Jim looks up from his carving, eyes lighting up as he takes in the sight of Bones, dressed more formally than usual in an azure button-down, sleeves rolled up around his elbows. Jim notices that the color makes Bones’s already-ocean-deep eyes look even more intense. He swallows.

“A little birdie told me,” he says, eyes crinkling as he smiles. “It’s almost done. It’ll definitely be done by the time you get back with her,” he offers, glancing down at his hands, still deftly turning the wood.

Bones shifts from one foot to the other.

“Uh—” he starts, “I was hoping you’d come with me to meet her,” he says, feeling a ruddy blush stain his cheeks. “But if you’re too busy—”

“No,” Jim says quickly, looking up. “I’d be honored to come with you to meet Joanna, Bones.”

Bones hopes Jim attributes his blush to how quickly he’d come sprinting across campus, but he sets aside that concern in favor of the anticipatory buzzing in his stomach.

He clears his throat again.

“Well, come on, then. Don’t want to be late,” he says gruffly.

Jim neatly brushes the spirals of wood off of his desk and pants and dumps them in the recycler. He slips the carving into his pocket and claps Bones on the shoulder, grinning.

“Let’s go pick up your daughter.”

**Author's Note:**

> ...and then they all have many adventures over intersession break and Joanna dresses up as a grasshopper for Halloween and Jim insists on taking her trick or treating and Bones swells with pride and they kiss and everything is happy forever :D


End file.
